Marysville mural honors firefighter Rudy Wright

Dozens gathered Saturday for the unveiling of a mural for Rudy Wright, a volunteer firefighter who was killed in an accident on I-5 on Nov. 3, 1970. The mural shows Wright handing a baseball to a young player during a fire station tour.

MARYSVILLE -- A mural was unveiled over the weekend honoring Rudy Wright, a volunteer firefighter who died while on duty Nov. 3, 1970.Wright, who owned Rudy's Recreation in downtown Marysville, was killed when a wrong-way driver crashed into an accident scene on northbound I-5. A tanker truck had overturned at the site.Years later, the Little League baseball field at the 1000 block of Cedar Avenue was named after him -- the Rudy Wright Memorial Field.Retired Marysville Fire District Fire Marshal Jerry Jacobsen was 18 at the time of the crash. Over the years, Jacobsen realized that fewer and fewer people knew about the story."Time has gone by," Jacobsen said. "It was great the city named the park after him, but we forgot that we have so many new people in town and many of them don't know who Rudy Wright was," he said.The 7-by-12 foot mural, on the back of the third base bleachers, shows Wright in his firefighter gear handing a baseball to a young player during a tour of the fire station. A plaque was installed telling the history of what happened.On Saturday, Wright's daughter, Patty Pendleton, was one of dozens of people who attended the unveiling of the mural. Pendleton gave the order to drop the cover of the mural.A committee made up of of Jacobsen, Kay Smith, Joyce Savage, Greg Corn, Stephanie Price, Jim Shipman, Jeff Bilow, Coby Hamblin and Jim Ballew worked with Granite Falls artist Gene Waggoner to create the mural.It was funded by the Marysville Fire Foundation, Marysville Firefighters Association and International Association of Firefighters Local No. 3219. Mike Mulligan Construction installed the mural.

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